Customer Reviews

It's a Sunshine Day - Best of the Brady Bunch

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Brady Six, the Silver Platters, even the theme song, they are all here on this most excellent Brady Bunch C.D.

The songs you expect are all here; It's A Sunshine Day - Time To Change - Keep On - and you are treated to a wide variety of other tunes that will keep Brady fans entranced for the length of the C.D.

The key here is the quality of the recordings, which is very, very high. I've heard some old TV C.D.s that sounded like someone recorded them in 1973 with a portable cassette deck, but this is not one of them. Throw this into your family stereo and this baby will pump out the Bradys like they were just recorded last week.

My kids love this C.D. and it's fun to be able to pop something in the stereo that you don't have to mute when certain words come on if you get my drift.

A great treat for Brady fans and lovers of bubblegum music everywhere, this C.D. will not disappoint!

I have mixed feelings about this collection of Brady Bunch songs. Although it features four well-known songs from the show, it leaves out the first song Gregg ever wrote (on the show when cigarettes were found in Gregg's jacket), the song that has the words "...we got plenty of blues and sorta bad news--re-act, posi-tive-ly" (I think it was the song they used in the talent show audition where they were featured as the Silver Platters) and "Girl" by Davy Jones and adds a bunch of songs I don't ever recall hearing on any Brady Bunch episode. If it weren't for the theme song, "Sunshine Day," "Keep On," and "Time to Change," I would have given this collection zero stars. If you're going to have only one Brady Bunch album, please make it a complete one...

Like many people of a certain age, I grew up watching the final seasons of "The Brady Bunch" when they were first broadcast. And then my sisters and I watched the endlessly broadcast re-runs over and over, to the point where we could repeat the dialogue with the actors. So naturally, I listened to "It's a Sunshine Day: The Best of the Brady Bunch" with a natural bias towards the material and the performers. But on repeated listening, I found that the kids from "Bunch" actually left behind a respectable body of music.

"The Brady Bunch," of course, was a beloved TV comedy series about a "blended" family of 6 kids. Like the characters of many other TV programs (such as "The Monkees" and "The Partridge Family"), the kids from "Bunch" embarked on a singing career both within the fictional universe of the show and in the "real" world. The CD is a quirky potpourri of songs from the TV show, cuts from the albums the kids recorded in the 70s, and some solo efforts, including a performance from Brady mom Florence Henderson. Excellent liner notes retell the story of how the six child actors from "The Brady Bunch" made their foray into pop music.

The selections vary in quality, but the best selections remind us that some of these kids had real talent! Check out Barry Williams' performance on the unreleased rarity "Cheyenne," a well-crafted pop song with a Partridge Family-esque flavor. You can also have fun picking out the individual actor-singers during the solo sections on the classic title track. And enjoy the groovy 70s lyrics ("Can't you dig the sunshine?").

Since "The Brady Bunch" premiered back in 1969, the show has resurfaced in a seemingly endless parade of TV, musical, and motion picture variations. And Bradyphiles like myself keep begging for more. So whether you grew up with the "Bunch" or converted to Brady fandom later in life, buy "It's a Sunshine Day." It'll make your world a whole lot brighter.

Sure, they weren't as musically talented as the Jackson Five or the Osmonds, but these six TV siblings were just as popular in the early 1970s because of their weekly sitcom, "The Brady Bunch." This excellent 20-track CD contains most of the songs performed by the kids, and though none of their singles ever hit the pop charts, their songs have become popular via reruns, reunions, and two hit movies (the songs "Time to Change" and "It's a Sunshine Day," in particular, have become cult--or camp--classics, depending on your view of the show). The Bradys were never hailed as great singers, though Barry Williams (Greg) and Maureen McCormick (Marcia) handle their vocal chores fairly well, as does Florence Henderson, who croons solo on one track. One sticking point is the omission of two songs that appear on the show, but not on the CD: "You've Got to Be in Love To Love a Love Song" and "Good Time Music," but the liner notes reveal that neither song was ever released, and thus do not appear on any Brady Bunch recording. Nonetheless, this collection is an ideal choice for Brady fans.

This compilation of hard-driving rock classics may just be the greatest album of all time from the greatest group of all time! Insightful lyrics, dazzling melodies, and stunningly beautiful vocals abound in this marvelous album! This should have been a box set, so that Greg's short-lived but meaningful solo career as "the new Johnny Bravo" could have been covered. As you may remember, this almost split the group for good but, as did the Rolling Stones in the late 1980's, the band put aside its differences, reunited, and went on to even greater fame.

All right, enough joking around: These incredibly cheezy bits of schmaltz were recorded to capitalize on the success of the TV series, and are about as corny. Musically, it gets no stars at all, but three big stars for pure comedy value. These kids couldn't have been serious, but if they were, that makes it even funnier. I defy anyone to listen to this stuff and not laugh. On that level, it's sort of, you know, groovy. Hey, let's all go down to Johnny Dimsdale's dad's studio and record some keen new songs; who knows, Davy Jones may be hanging out there.

I was excited to learn that a CD was made with various songs from the Brady Bunch. I enjoy the show and now that I can hear those cute songs I heard as kid at my convenience makes me happy. The CD has many of the songs they sang on the show and during their variety shows. Its a great compulation of their music. If your a fan of the Brady Bunch you'll truly enjoy this CD.

It was exactly what my daughter wanted. Great buy!!

A fun CD, but Peter's voice doesn't crack on the version of Time To Change included here.

Why, oh why, must record companies mess with the classics???

There really is only one reason to buy this CD. Listening to the Brady kids version of "American Pie" is absolutely surreal. What were the producers thinking? Dumb question. They weren't.

I don't think any of the people giving this 5 stars are rating the music, they're rating the TV show...and those are two different issues. I have a high appreciation for bubblegum pop and this definitely falls into that camp, but the songwriting here (overall) just isn't up to the caliber of that other famous TV family that sang (the one with David Cassidy in it). There ARE some good bubblegum tunes here, but many of these are outright painful.

HIGHLIGHTS:
Nearly all the best material is stuff that was featured on the TV show. "It's a Sunshine Day" remains wonderfully catchy. (and kitschy...check out that psychedelic guitar behind Bobby in the "Can't you feel the sunshine?" bridge) [Anyone else ever notice how much the chords of this resembles that OTHER 'sunny day' song? The Sesame Street theme, I mean?] "We Can Make the World a Whole Lot Brighter" is proto-Earth day music. "Keep On" is irrestible, and "Time to Change" is also goofy fun (though, to be fair, it does NOT have the voice-changing vocal from Peter..a minor quibble but one that dulled my enjoyment a bit). Outside of those TV featured tunes, "I Just Want to Be Your Friend" was pretty good and Maureen's solo outing "Truckin' Back to You" takes the familiar 70s cliche and makes a pretty peppy ditty out of it.

LOWS:
One listen to the Bunch desecrating "American Pie" will be enough. (They used a wah-wah!) Kitsch value only lasts for a listen or two and you won't care to hear it anymore. "Frosty the Snowman" features Susan Olsen's downright painful vocal and I suspect it's used in the special corners of Hell (for those being made to suffer extra torment). "Sweet Sweetheart", a Barry Williams solo single, may be the biggest disappointment since it's written by the usually stellar songwriting team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King. It just isn't a good tune.

BOTTOM LINE:
You'll probably only think this is great if you're a diehard Brady Bunch fanatic. But if you're a bubblegum enthusiast..and you get it cheap used...there's enough good stuff here to make it worth having for those cuts.